Lockpick

The most optimal secondary for almost all primaries is probably Bio with Energy Aura up there pretty close. Honestly, you really can't go wrong with any of the secondaries. I also like SR and Inv.

Some great points from both of you. I will likely do a second build and try a more offensive build. My general nature though is to build for defense and S/L resist, so that is what I went for. Also, this build leveled really fast. I don't even feel like I have the play time needed to really understand how to better leverage its strengths. Now at 50 and working on the incarnates. Once that is done I'll be trying +4/8 DA missions and then maybe push a second build. I'm actually finding it interesting the number of ways Bio can be slotted, which is a nice change. If only the look could be fixed...

I decided to post my EM/Bio build. This is my first /Bio to 50 and I have to say I am surprised by it's performance. I now know why everyone has been singing the praises of Bio. I was not a fan of Bio previously because: I didn't like the look I didn't think it was sturdy Still not a fan of the look, but I was wrong about it being sturdy. I tend to build stalkers with a goal towards soft-capping defense and getting near cap on S/L resists. I was pretty happy for getting soft-cap positionals with 75% S/L on a /SD. I was also happy to get a /Inv to soft-cap typed defenses to all (except Psy) and with 75% S/L. I thought this would be impossible with /Bio, unless I used Shadow Meld. Nope! This build is just as sturdy as some of my others with additional tools and great endurance. Now I understand the /Bio love. In the past I was using a lot of slots on Ablative Carapace, DNA Siphon, and Parasitic Aura, but with this build the focus is on defense and S/L resist and using those powers as tools. Thanks to a build that @Croax had posted I was shocked to find I could soft-cap typed defenses to all (except Psy) and with ~75% S/L in Offensive mode. Not only that, but with Shadow Meld, Ablative Carapace, DNA Siphon, and Parasitic Aura I could easily get extra defense, healing, regeneration, and endurance pretty much on demand. I also tend to like builds where the secondary isn't very active. I thought I would dislike Bio because of its active nature. I did not find that the case at all. There are 3 click powers, but I only fire them when needed. I tend to use Shadow Meld while running towards a a crowd, jump into said crowd, use DNA Siphon if my Health is getting low, and use Ablative Carapace if my health is getting low and DNA Siphon has not recharged. I rarely use Parasitic Aura, although I should use it more for the end recovery boost. Anyway, on to the build.

It's an interesting point. For me, leveling and getting the components I need for my build are the fun. Once I get to 50 and my build is complete there is really no incentive / goal for me to keep playing that character.

Dave Chappelle uttered the line "Some people think cucumbers taste better pickled" in the Chappelle's Show - Celebrity Trial Jury Selection episode. I thought the Chappelle Show was funny when it was out and as a rap fan I appreciated the show for the hip hop guest stars like Mos Def. The show was a cultural phenom in the USA when it was out (2003 to 2006), so I somewhat expected more people to react to @Mopery's post especially since the show was out when the game launched. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chappelle's_Show

Whut? Huh? Edit: I guess no one found @Mopery as funny as I did or just didn't catch the reference. Anyway, for those not aware:

There are several in this thread that think Null the Gull is not an optimal solution. All of them have provided suggestions that would make the the situation more optimal. I will say that I very rarely run into the Group Fly issue. However the few times it has happened it has been irritating. I believe is a poor design decision to make a power affect other players against their will and then make it incumbent upon the impacted player to address the issue. I get you don't think this is important enough for the HC team to fix. However, the purpose of the suggestions forum is to make suggestions, so suggestions have been made.

Interesting, I like it!

There is obviously an issue if this topic comes up a lot. The solution you twi are advocating is already in game and is not seen as optimal by many players, hence the suggestion. Not sure why you guys are opposed to a solution that would be more optimal. It's not like the people here are saying people with Group Fly are bad, they are just suggesting alternative solutions to going to Pocket D and Null the Gull. On another note, I'm sure a lot of people do not even know about Null the Gull. I was certainly late to knowing about it and it had to be explained to me. Now I know, but do I want to take all my characters to Null the Gull? Nope. Why not add it to the P2W vendor? I bet almost all new characters go to the P2W vendor, so this would be a good option. Pick your prestige powers, XP settings, and Null options all at the same time. Solves a lot of the problems, although as @Greycat pointed out it won't solve all the concerns.

Or maybe set the default to Group Fly not affecting others and let them opt in? I would also suggest putting tese types of settings in setting if possible. Why use Null the Gull at all?

This sounds like an indictment against balancing. Tanks were semi-okay before the HC balancing pass and now IMO they are OP. HC team changed Energy Melee and that power set went from being one of the worst to arguably the best. This is why I tend to not like balancing in general. Sure, some minor tweaks here and there are likely needed to balance, but the HC team has done massive amounts of unneeded (IMO) balancing. Replacing powers, shifting levels where powers are picked, etc. Balancing begets balancing and leads to picking winners and losers... At the end of the day, there will always be a performance stack rank of an AT / power set. All the balancing does is change the stack rank for a period of time until the next balancing pass. I've already stated my stance on the procs stuff, but will add one thing. If one AT / power set is able to perform a little better because of procs I really don't care. It doesn't affect me or my characters in the slightest. I enjoy the game for what it is and I am just as happy to play a semi-weak AT as I am to play a strong AT. I have played numerous versions of DP Blasters and had fun with all of them. I don't think anyone is calling DP OP. I was never able to play the TW/Bio scrapper that was supposed to be OP. Just wasn't fun for me. My point is that the team should focus on the fun factor as opposed to the balancing aspect. Procs are fine...

I didn't read the entire thread, so not sure what your point is. My take is simple. I don't see procs as being OP Characters that use procs may increase their damage, but lose other forms of mitigation from not having set bonuses Using procs gives more build choices and more choices are better than less choices I don't believe balancing procs should be a priority when compared to providing new content or functionality Balancing seems to work sometimes (TW) and not others (Tanks) and there will always be some ATs / Powers that are better than others and balancing just shifts the stack rank, so doesn't provide as much value as providing new shinies Just providing my opinion...

Procs are fine. IMO the devs should stop trying to "balance" the game and should focus on adding new features and content.

I do Bios for the majority of the characters that I think I will play to 50. Some characters I start with no Bio and just want to see how the characters plays and feels, so I don't take the time to make a Bio. Some characters I start with a concept and then I create a Bio early on. It just depends... I think leveling speed and character slots has a bit to do with it as well. On Live it took forever to get to 50, so I was invested deeply in the character and created a Bio and concept. There were also had limited slots, so I only played characters that I was invested in because I didn't want to waste a slot. Here I find that I have less investment in a character because I'm always creating new ones and leveling a bit.

I can't really disagree with this logic. I may actually have to go Pie > Cookies > Cake. Hmm, if you add Ice Cream to the mix though it is more like Ice Cream > Pie > Cookies > Cake.

Do you have a Psi/SD build you are willing to share?

Reminds me of the old days when the Simian Defense Force was running rampant on Infinity... Got my first 50 on Simian Stalker (who was actually a Katana / Regen scrapper. Took forever to hit 50. I was so relieved that I had finally made it. Then I was like, what do I do now?

Wait, whut!? You can add people to a TF after it has started? I didn't think that was possible...

For me it is defeating an enemy AV solo. I don't generally use anything but my powers and inspirations, but if I couldn't defeat the AV with those alone I have no issue with using temp powers, email inspirations, buffs, pets, etc.

Going to second @Veracor and @Bopper for their many contributions. Some others that stand out to me (not a full list by any means) are those that provide their time to provide information about various ATs, powers, etc. @Werner Werner rules challenges @Bill Z Bubba Claws / SR advocate @Infinitum Providing information and help on Tankers and Builds @Croax Providing information and help on Stalkers @Haijinx Providing information on Stalkers and other ATs @oldskool Providing guidance on Sentinels @Sir Myshkin Kicking off the proc monster threads / trends; awesome builds @Frosticus Great Savage Melee guidance @nihilii Crazy challenges and builds; proving Sentinels can solo TFs There are many others, but just wanted to give some props to the ones that popped in my head first...

I was playing a new stalker last night (DM/SD) mainly solo and was starting with AS from Hide on every new spawn. Probably just a phase, but that is likely where the disparity of opinions come from in this thread. Some like to just scrap it out and aren't worried about AS from Hide and some like the AS from Hide play style.

Do you have a DM/SD build you would be willing to share? Haven't got far on my DM and trying to figure the primary powers...

Got defeated twice in the first 8 minutes on my EM/EA Stalker. I thought it was going to be easy after the first group, but while working on the 2nd group I aggroed the 3rd group. That was all she wrote...

Stalkers were designed to play with the AS from Hide while Brutes were designed with Fury. The Stalker has evolved to be more of a Scrapper with limited incentive to play with AS from Hide, which was a core feature of the original design. The OP making a suggestion to have the Stalker work more as designed is somewhat different from suggesting the Brute AT play the way you want. OP is merely suggesting there should be some options to make the Stalker have a reason to AS from Hide. I actually like the suggestion because it would be nice to have equivalent options. Option 1 you do AS from Hide Option 2 you use non-AS from Hide attack chain Both options have around the equivalent damage. What is the concern? You can play your way, OP can play their way, and since they are fundamentally equivalent you can switch it up for fun. IMO, if the Live Devs saw the way the Stalker is being played today due to the ATOs I would bet money they would change the ATOs to get the AT closer to the original design or would make an adjustment to make AS from Hide relevant. Of course, this is all theorizing, I don't see it changing because even though I would prefer a change like OP mentions I think the AT is still in a good enough place. That being said, Stalker was still at the bottom of the AT (Non-HEAT/VEAT) played statistics. If Stalkers were so good they would be played more, right? There are twice as many Scrappers as Stalkers and three times as many Brutes. Brute: 178K Scrapper: 122K Tanker: 95K Stalker: 59K I'm betting that Tanker numbers have increased significantly and Stalkers have not since the last statistics.

Do you have to set your notoriety to +4/8 before setting the mission or does the mission basically do it for you?